Financial Education for Young People #6 - How to be Employable

In the previous episode we spoke about what makes a good investment and used college and student loans as examples. In this episode we are going to talk about how make money, and we will focus on what makes a person employable.

Hello everyone, my name is Mr. D and welcome to episode 6 of our financial literacy series. Before we get started take a second to smash the like button to help spread the message of financial awareness and subscribe so that you don’t miss the next episode.

Despite what many people may think, nobody is entitled to being employed. A person is employed based on whether they can perform the required skills that the job requires. In short, when a person hires you, they are considering how useful you will be for the business. Smaller businesses who can only afford to hire one or two people will give more responsibilities to their employees, with the benefit of helping you learn on the job. Larger companies will expect their candidates to focus on specific task, and will expect a person to be well versed how to perform their tasks. Obviously, this is not the case everywhere, but it’s a good principle to keep in the back of your mind.

One of the best things you can do is getting an entry-level job during school breaks. Not only will you have some extra money to save and get some of that sweet compound interest, but it will also teach you a bunch of skills, help you to meet new people, and give you some experience dealing with people. These are the things recruiters look for when they ask people if they have prior work experience, they want to see if you are capable of working full-time. Nobody want to hire a person who they think is going to leave after a few months. The benefit of working part-time while you are in school is that it develops what are called soft skills.

Soft skills are the skills that allow us to function in a team environment. They include being able to think creatively, networking, teamwork, and a whole lot more. These skills are what makes you good at the job.

For instance, you can have a person who is absolutely brilliant in their subject field, but if they can’t communicate effectively or use their expertise creatively then they aren’t very useful for the job. A more personal example would be some teacher who I have met who are absolutely brilliant in English literature, but they have a tough time communicating this knowledge when teaching their younger students. They are brilliant in their field, but they lack communication and creativity when engaging their students, that makes them less useful and easier to replace if there ever is a reason to do so. It’s a hard reality, but that is how business works.

It is also worth understanding that many businesses have many expenses and can’t afford to hire people who might not be a good fit. This is why there are people who’s only job is to recruit people who are perfect for the job. Now, how can you become perfect for the job and be hired?

The simple answer is to be useful. Be proactive and be willing to learn. Take the time now while people expect you to make mistakes as a young person and go and learn on the job. It’s also worth it to read a lot of books and watch YouTube videos to educate yourself. If for some reason you can’t find a part time job during your break and you have some spare time, consider going to a library and reading some books about skills development.

To get you started on your road to skill building here are some my favorite books:
How to Win Friend and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, this is a classic when it comes to effective communication. (https://amzn.to/2JIMf9V)
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. Written by Ashley Vance, this biography is inspirational and can give you some insight into what it’s like to achieve some big dreams. (https://amzn.to/36MH9lw)
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. This is a beautiful story about adventure and finding your destiny. Perfect for anyone who has some wanderlust in them and is unsure about what career they want to pursue. (https://amzn.to/3ghun1x).
And finally, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel. Thiel is one of the co-founders of PayPal (along with Elon Musk) and a serial entrepreneur. It’s a small book, but it’s packed with information on how big companies like Google work. (https://amzn.to/3lPtYEI)

By clicking on the links below and buying any of the books you are helping to support this channel and I appreciate it very much.

That’s it for this video everyone. Thanks for watching and don’t forget to like and subscribe for more future videos. See you again next time!